Last Chapter: The Final Fantasy
by Kiako Ornitier
Summary: The CEO's of a power company and SHINRA work together in order to create a machine that will allow travel through different dimensions and Universes. They hire many who are more than familiar with these so called "Game Worlds" to travel and test the machine, but they have been losing contact with them, and only one name stands out through it all: LUTECE
1. Chapter 1: Dreams

I do not own any of the fandoms or references to pop culture in this fic, nor to I own the characters unless stated.

Vale Valentine (c) K Entertainment

* * *

_Voices, were the first thing I heard. Around me there were voices crying, screaming, shouting... In the darkness I felt lost, trying to find a direction, trying to make sense where I was in the chaos. There was no origin to the din, it was everywhere, overwhelming, closing in- _

_Suddenly, someone grabbed my hand, and I looked up to see a woman with a blind eye. _

_The only thing she said to me was: _

_"Run!"_

-0-0-

With another huff, a girl of 21 sighed, hunching over her laptop as she tried to recall the rest of the dream she had the previous night. A cup of forgotten coffee sat beside her, barely luke warm until she bumped it with her hand and clutched it, taking a gulp of the sugar saturated liquid.

Lately she couldn't remember her dreams- well no one could really, she knew only SOME Dreams could be remembered but these had been reoccurring...

She glanced to her phone (Lacking text messages of any kind it would seem.) and grumbled before her cell phone rang. She quickly snatched up the Samsung and swiped the screen, eagerly putting the receiver to her ear, "Hello?" She tried to sound friendly and keep her voice from going shrill.

"Hello, may I speak to Kiako Ornitier?"

"Speaking." She replied with an arch of her brow at the voice at the other end.

"Excellent, I am here to inform you that we have recieved your resume to our company. It may involve some, travelling however. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes! YES it's fine!" She stood up from her seat. FINALLY! Finally a job! All those years of drafting and school and Architect technology!

"Fantastic, your ticket will be electronically ready for you. See you soon- Oh, and one more thing."

Kiako was already kicking a luggage bag across her laminate floor, startling her hedgehogs in their tanks.

"Yes?"

"Don't forget your umbrella, you know... the black one. I hear it's going to rain."

She stopped, blinking a bit in confusion before nodding a bit, "If it fits in my luggage then yeah, I'll bring it."

"Excellent, see you soon. Very Soon." When the man hung up, Kiako just stared at her phone.

"Well... That was ominous." she said outloud, looking to her hedgehogs who just went throwing fluff over their backs, "Oh well, guess i'll find out when I get there."

Grinning, she began to pack her clothes and things she would need.

Finally. Finally life was going to begin.

-0-0-

Kiako looked down at her phone, then up at the large, towering building in front of her.

"Well this is the place..." she murmured, walking in. Valentine industries was a relatively new company, dealing in the production of gas and energy. The owner, Vale Valentine, had been the one who prepared the plane ticket to the US, where the company was located.

Speaking of the plane ride, Kiako was groggy from it, having slept the entire time...

She sighed and stretched before walking into the building, peering around at the modern air to the place, mainly the angular structures and glass planes, and went up to the reception desk. She peeked over the edge, and the receptionist looked down at her.

"I'm afraid this isn't a hotel miss, you'll have to go further downtown."

"Actually I'm here for an interview." Kiako said, her voice trying to sound professional, coming out a bit loud because of the intense stare from the secretary.

"Mr. Valentine is very busy, he doesn't have time for, Children." she said curtly before a hand was put over her shoulder.

"Dorothy were there some files I forgot down here...?" a tall man with slicked back, short purple hair asked in a black suit, his eyes bright green as he looked down at the secretary kindly. The man looked down at her and almost made a coughing sound, almost choking on his own saliva.

"Kiako!" the man quickly rounded around the obelisk of a desk and swooped down, picking Kiako up off the floor and hugging her tightly, "Oh it's been so long I'm so glad you came!"

Kiako had frozen, just going wide eyed at the sudden hug and gasped, staring at the secretary who shared the same shocked face until she was put down.

"Forgive me... It's been much too long." the man smiled and looked to the receptionist, "Dorothy, could you postpone my appointments for the day? There's something important I must discuss with Miss Kiako here."

Dorothy, suddenly super friendly, smiled and nodded.

"Very well Mr. Valentine."

Valentine nodded with thanks and turned to Kiako, "Ah, let me take your things for you."

"Oh no that's fine I just- I'm just here for the interview." Kiako replied politely but kinda shuffled on the spot.

"Interview?" It was the mans turn to look confused now.

"Yes, I was called for an interview...? I flew all the way here, for the drafting job."

Valentine stared at her before tilting his head with a furrow in his delicate brow, "Don't you remember me...?" When Kiako shook her head his face fell and- she swore he saw a catch in his throat.

"i'm... sorry?" She apologized anyways.

"No it's fine... Come, I DO need your expertise still." his face became serious and he lead her down a hallway before opening the door, allowing her in first.

"This, is what I needed your help with."

-0-0-

Kiako stared around the room of strange contraptions, filled with staff in labcoats and when she saw one of the machines she ran to it and stared.

It was a giant tank, in fact there were three tanks filled with colorful marbles. One was filled with green, the other yellow and the last, blue.

"What- What are these?" She reached out and tapped the glass, and one of the marbles started to glow, making her put a hand up to shield her eyes from the light.

"Materia!" someone called and she jumped, seeing a man in a white suit, blonde, slicked back hair, and bright blue eyes. She had to do a double take at the distinct suit. Behind the man were two others, a tall, broad shouldered bald one with sunglasses on, and the other a grinning red head, his hands tucked behind him in a stretch, lightly tugging at his long rats tail, "I wouldn't touch those if I were you."

"I'm sorry, and you are...?"

"Vale, you told me it had been years, but I didn't think her memory would be THIS Bad." the man said with an unamused quirk of his brow.

"Rufus please, just give her a moment to take it all in." Mr Valentine- Vale said with a frown, "Kiako, do you remember Rufus?"

Kiako ended up shaking her head skeptically, "No... But I have to say that is the most convincing Rufus Shinra and Turks cosplay I've ever seen in my life." The red head just chuckled, nudging the bald man who just glanced over stone faced.

"See? Doesn't remember anything."

"I said give her a chance!" Looking over the tubes Kiako kept tapping at them lightly.

"You said this is Materia right? You realize Materia isn't... Real. It's a Final Fantasy VII thing." she said and looked them over then went wide eyed, "I'm not at a secret anime con am I?"

Rufus just gave Vale a look as if saying "I told you so" and he went to the tank. He held up one of the green marbles.

"See this? This an fire materia." the orb sank into his hand, and with a smirk and a flick of his arm a nearby machine instantly combusted, a roaring flame now ablaze as people in lab coats nearby SCREAMED And ran to try and extinguish the fire.

Kiako shouted in surprise as well and turned to run until the bald Rude cosplayer grabbed her from behind, holding her in place and started to carry her further down into the labs.

"No wait stop! I said STOP." Vale ran in front of them, and swallowed, holding out a black notebook to Kiako.

She shrugged the rude Rude off, and she eyed the notebook- No wait...That's not what it was. Looking to Vale, who held it out flat on his palms to her, she took the book, examining it.

It was a sketchbook, the spine along the short edge. One the front was a small sticker of Rilakuma, and on the inside it-

"This... this is mine." Kiako blinked at it, and began to flip through the pages. As she did, something began to flood inside of her and she took a deep breath. It was as if she'd found something she lost long, long ago and when she reached the end of the book she nearly dropped it, holding onto the side of her head as a dull ache set in.

Rufus came up beside her, and held her up by her shoulders.

"Do you remember me NOW?" he asked, and as she looked at all of them, she slowly nodded, "Great. Now let's get to work." He turned swiftly on his heel and began heading past the disgruntled scientists cleaning up after the fire extinguisher towards a hall labelled OFFICE.

Vale quickly went to Kiako's side, and put a hand on her back.

"Are you okay...?"

"Y-Yeah." She shook her head and then smiled with a dull chuckle, "Feels like I got a cold bucket of water dumped over me..."

"What bothers me if your lack of memory, THAT'S what makes me worried." Vale frowned before the red head, who Kiako recognized now as Reno chuckled and gave Vale a nudge.

"Relaaaax! I'm sure we'll jog that little brain of hers won't we?"

Kiako laughed a little before giving Reno a playful shove, "Hey maybe me not remembering you is a GOOD thing?" she teased before looking down at her sketch book. Til now she had no recollection of meeting these people at all, maybe even still she doesn't know them, but for now, it felt as if she had suddenly had a jump start to her brain, and slow trickles of images and thoughts were coming back to her.

Perhaps this trip wasn't going to be such a waste after all.


	2. Chapter 2: Motivation

I do not own any of the fandoms or references to pop culture in this fic, nor to I own the characters unless stated.

* * *

Kiako came to one that looked like a gate (The nerd in her thought of a Warp Gate from StarCraft.) she tilted her head at it curiously. The Materia filled cylinders were off to the side, pulsing with Mako energy.

"What is this thing?"

"It's a machine meant for Dimensional Travel." Vale replied, brushing a non-existant hair out of his face. Kiako remembered in a fuzzy memory it was cause he was still used to having long hair, "It's something I had been funding for some time now."

"I see..." Kiako walked around it, running a hand over the metal, "Is it functional?"

"That's the thing... We're not, too terribly sure." Vale said, following her as she walked around the machine, "So far it had been spitting up random people, hence Tseng having called you for the "Interview"."

Kiako hummed quietly before looking to Vale, "Have you tested it?"

"Well, yes but..." Vale rubbed the back of his neck with a bit of a grim look, "Things can warp out of it to this world just fine for the most part."

"For the most part...?" Kiako said and glanced to the machine, tapping at the cylinder again as the balls inside clinked together, "Is it safe for this thing to be powered by Materia?"

"It's the only thing powerful enough at the moment in order to generate this kind of technology." Vale said defensively, "Don't worry, we made sure not to mix the materia if you haven't noticed."

"Where did you even get it from?"

"Use your imagination, seeing where I came from." Rufus said as he opened the door for her to go inside.

-0-0-

"And that's how this project came to be where it is now." Rufus said, having explained how during the first prototype for the machine, how he had been warped in randomly. He, Vale and Kiako were sitting in a small conference room in the building, since the scientists wanted to continue their work.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain WHERE all that materia came from." Kiako said, sipping at a glass of water.

"If you recall, once materia has been used enough it spawns a new one with the excess Mako." Rufus said, folding his hands together, "I was fortunate enough to have some one me when I was warped."

"...So... You made them have babies?"

Rufus smiled, "If you want to put it that way yes."

"Thanks to Rufus's suggestion the materia powering the machine has enabled it to run for a longer period of time." Vale said, "Unfortunately, once we open the gate things just, pop out."

"Indeed. Just yesterday we had a- What was it one of the Travellers called... A Zergling had entered through the gate." Rufus said and Vale groaned at the memory.

"That set us back a few months..." he said and Kiako could only imagine.

She disliked Zerglings.

Especially when they were massed, stuffed into 9 Overlords, and released into her Main base.

"I'm surprised you guys killed it, lucky it wasn't something bigger..." She shivered at her own memory until Vale handed her a small sac. She gave him a suspicious look, but took the bag and peeked until she glanced up at him with question.

"It's called a Star Shard." Vale said and Kiako pulled out the crystal star with a lightning bolt through it, looking the item over. It was just the size of her fist, and she blinked at the item.

"What's it for?"

"My team has said that it has the ability to allow the user to travel to different worlds."

"What?! Why aren't you using this thing then?!"

"Calm down." Rufus said cooly, "The Star Shard alone can't power the gate, nor can we track where it takes anyone. We've tried to duplicate it by cloning it, and sending someone off. However... As of late we have been losing contact with some of our hires."

"Wait so you hired others to travel already? Can't they just WISH Themselves back here?"

"We're not sure, which is why we want YOU, to go and find them with the original Star Shard." Kiako gave him a skeptical look, "I've seen what you have done in the past, and what you're capable of. Though at this point I don't think you remember do you?"

"Yeah, my head's still a bit... Empty."

"Well that's nothing new."

Kiako looked at the shard, twisting it in her hands, "Why me, instead of some other employee?"

"You have had experience in traveling to other worlds." Vale explained, "If we can track the way the Star Shard travels inbetween worlds, then we might be able to study it properly and get some people back to where they belong. Like Rufus."

Staring at the Shard, Kiako looked to be in deep thought. Which she was.

"I'm not battle ready."

"You won't have to be." Rufus said, and pushed a small metal briefcase to her.

Arching a brow she opened up the case and there were four glowing materia in it.

"Looks like you guys have Materia to spare..." Kiako murmured, picking up the bright red one, "Even summon materia."

"THAT one Valentine asked me to give to you specifically." Rufus crossed his legs over, and linked his fingers to rest on the table, "The other ones are standard issue for each Traveller we hire."

"You equip your hires with Materia?"

"What else would they protect themselves with? Inside are a Cure, Barrier and a Fire materia." Rufus nodded before adding in, "Wouldn't want you to starve just because you couldn't cook your own food."

Kiako frowned at that, making a bit of a face and stared down at the items.

"I... I don't think I can do this." She said hesitantly.

"Why not? it's a wonderful opportunity to travel to those worlds you people in this Earth love so much, instead of 80 hours on the couch it could be 80 hours logged into an experience." Rufus explained, "And it wouldn't hurt for you to get out, lose some weight..."

Vale gave Rufus a gentle smack on the arm before looking to Kiako.

"I believe you can do it, you're more than qualified!" he said and Kiako shooked her head quickly.

"What makes you think that?! I JUST managed to finish school, and I need a job, and I need to earn a wage..."

"You're a GAME DESIGNER, I know you are! You were so proud of it last I saw you!" Vale gently shook her shoulders.

"I'm not anymore!" she cried and Vale looked taken aback, "I gave it up to be an architect...!"

Rufus coughed loudly and getting up, he span Kiako around in her chair and gripped the arm rests, leaning in close.

"Do you still remember how games work?"

"W-Well yeah of course."

"And do you remember the programming? the stuctures? The stories?"

"Y-Yeah..." Rufus shook her chair and she gasped a bit, "Yes! Yes of course I do!"

"Then you are qualified." he nodded, and when Kiako looked away with shakey eyes he gave the chair another shake, "You. Are. Qualified. Do not forget that, and do not waste my time questioning us. Is that understood?"

"Yeah, Yes..."

"Good." Rufus let go of her chair and fixed his tie, "You leave as soon as you are able, preferably in three days. Don't disappoint me like the others."

As he left, Kiako reached up to rub at her tearing eyes and Vale put a hand over her back, and smiled.

"Come on, you must be tired..."

-0-0-

Stepping into her room that Vale had arranged for her in the building, Kiako looked around at the decor and the size of the room before turning to Vale.

"You know you didn't have to arrange such a big room for me, it's just me in here after all." she said and Vale, who was standing near the window cast his eyes to look down at the city below which had grown dark, and the night life had started.

"I wanted to make sure you were comfortable." he said, glancing back at her.

"Oh... Well, thank you for thinking about me." Kiako said politely, and awkward stood there. Something nagged at the back of her mind- She knew him. She remembered him but- she didn't. She knew his name, she knew how he looked when he was younger and she knew he was looking out for her.

Vale smiled back, "You're welcome." he stood up from the window and headed to the door. When he was about to leave he paused and turned, "Would, you be interested in joining me for dinner tonight?"

Kiako looked to him and down at what she wore, then at her backpack and small suit case, trying to remember if she brought something presentable to wear.

"If I can find something nice to wear, sure." she said and when Vale lit up with a bright smile.

"If you can't then I can arrange something for you."

"Oh no no! It's okay! I-I have clothes!" she waved her hands quickly. More she was concerned that whatever he chose would fit her or not, she had bad luck when it came to clothes shopping...

Vale agreed and with a smile, bowed a bit, "If you'll excuse me, I'm sure Dorothy is about to have an anerism of some sort soon, I will pick you up in an hour, is that enough time?"

"More than enough." she said and as Vale turned to leave, "Ah, Mr. Valentine?"

"Please, just Vale."

"T-Thank you..."

Vale smiled and bowed his head again and left. Waving at him leaving, Kiako sighed and flopped onto the bed, closing her eyes with Rufus' voice riniging in her head.

-0-0-

Shuffling into the lab, Kiako yawned, rubbing her eyes at the bright lights inside.

"Morning...~" she greeted and the scientists greeted her back. As she passed them she heard some of them whispering to one another, most of it mainly being, "She's awfully young..." or, "I worry for Vale's choice of personnel..."

When she looked to the gossiper's they looked away quickly before jogging up the ramp to the machine, where Vale was looking things over.

"Morning."

Vale turned and smiled, nodding.

"Good morning to you, sleep well?"

"Mmhmm. Pretty good." Kiako nodded and looked to the machine, "So, we gonna get this shindig running?"

"Indeed." Vale said and turned to the ginger scientist, "Horace, if you will?"

Now that Kiako had a chance to look, Horace was a young, tall scientist with pewter framed glasses, his hair was long enough to tie back into a ponytail, and looked as if someone shot him with a ray of sunshine due to all the freckles on him.

"Morning, I'm the one who is going to be monitoring your travels."

"Ah, please take good care of me then." Kiako replied, shaking hands with him. Horace nodded and looking her over before handing her a wrapped brown package, "eh, what's this?"

"A gift, for your travels."

Frowning, she unwrapped it and tilted her head, pulling it out. It was her umbrella, a gift from her friends with a katana handle.

"Did you guys go through my luggage?"

"well yes and no, you just left it open in your room." Horaced shrugged and handed her handed her a phone.

"My cell phone...?" Why am I gonna need this?" she asked, "My plan doesn't cover that far..."

"It's so we can keep in touch. Mr. Valentine asked that I modify your phone with a stronger signal." Horace said and started up the computer, "I believe you have the Star Shard?"

"Mmhmm." Kiako held up the item.

"Good. Stand there." he pointed to a platform and Kiako followed the instructions, "Well done, you have successfully followed my orders better than I had anticipated."

Kiako shot him a dirty look before looking to Vale, who shrugged.

"Please, he IS one of the more qualified scientists on this program." he said, "I trust him with your safety." As Horace began to set up his equipment, Rufus casually walked in and looked around at the ongoing test.

"Hm, seems you're almost ready to go." he said and smiled, "I trust your materia training went well?" In the past 3 days Rufus and the Turks had given her a crash course in materia usuage, and she was still feeling a bit sore...

"Yeah, right after you tried to set me on fire..." Kiako murmured and Rufus laughed.

"Seems your reaction to spells is still the same as before." He said.

"Does that mean it was horrible before or it was better?" She asked and he snerked,

"Alright, so the way the Star Shard should work, is that you have to think about the world you need to go to. Don't let your mind stray, and imagine or remember as many details as you can." Horace said and peeked over his console.

"Where am I imagining?" she asked before Horace groaned.

"Just, think of someplace I don't really care. Either way I'm tracking you."

"Ok ok..." Kiako sighed and closed her eyes.

Hmmm, imagining somewhere for herself to go...

The first thing that came to her mind were lights, lights and... Castles. Lights and castles, and swords, crystals and magic...!

She found herself imagining Alexandria castle from Final Fantasy IX and she felt the Star Shard grow warm in her hands.

"Ah! Here we go!" Horace grinned and pulled on a pair of goggles, "Keep imagining! Keep going!"

Continuing to remember as much as she could, she remembered the play, the Prima Vista airship, the Mist, the Black Mages. All that brought back the magical fantasy from the original Final Fantasy.

A blue light started to engulf her and she opened her eyes to see Vale and Rufus, Vale giving her a forlorn look while Rufus was grinning.

"I'll be right back!" she called.

The bright blue light turned white with intensity, engulfing her quickly. Vale shielded his eyes and squinted through just in time to see Kiako turn into a small ball and shoot off into the ceiling, making small twinkling noises as she rebounded off the walls and straight out and away.

"Did you catch that...?!" Vale asked and Horace nodded. Sighing with relief, Vale felt Rufus clap a hand on his shoulder.

"It worked! Let's hope she actually made it to where she planned to." he said and Vale nodded quickly, beaming.

"I asked her to contact me as soon as she touched down, hopefully she'll remember to." He said then sighed, "I hope she stays safe..."

Rufus smirked and began to walk off from the lab.

"She's a trouble maker, if I remember." he said and chuckled with a grin, "What a troublesome woman you picked."

Vale went pink before turning away.

"I don't know what you mean."

With a smug shrug, Rufus went off to do his own research before Vale reached into his pocket and looked at the picture again.

He prayed that this wasn't a bad idea...

-0-0-

"AHH-Blgggblbllghbl." flailing her arms around to try and see where she had landed, Kiako realized quickly that she couldn't breath, and felt heavy. After a few moments she realized she was underwater and stopped to reorientate herself.

Everything was dark, and it was hard to see any kind of light from anywhere with her glasses all mucked up.

'Well balls. I'm gonna drown... Is this how the others ended up?' she wondered until she heard a splash from above, and a yanking on the back of her backpack.

"BLARGG!" she gasped, having been thrown up onto a ledge and coughed out water, gasping air back inside. Someone flopped beside her and slapped her in the back to try and "Encourage" her to breathe again.

"You ok...?"

Kiako looked to the side seeing a man with teal clothes and blonde hair tied back into a small ponytail. She rose a brow when she saw he had a monkey tail then smiled a bit nodding.

"Y-Yea..." she coughed and pushed her wet bangs out of her face, "Yeah I think I'm going to be."


	3. Chapter 3: Burmecia

I do not own any of the fandoms or references to pop culture in this fic, nor to I own the characters unless stated.

* * *

"Zidane are you okay?" a woman that looked like a rat, and a small boy with black mist shrouding his face, and bright yellow eyes ran over and ZIdane nodded, pulling himself up out of the water and holding a hand out to Kiako, who took it and was pulled up onto the rocks.

"Thanks..." she said and sat up, trying to stop her clothes from sticking to her. Zidane smiled and nodded before looking around.

"Where did you fall from? I didn't even see you earlier..." he said and Kiako shook her head before standing up.

"I don't even know, guess I wasn't looking where I was going." she said and blinked when the boy was staring at her. She knew all too well who Vivi was, she had taken her last name from him after all... Bending over a bit she smiled, "Hey there."

Vivi's eyes looked a bit frightened at first until ZIdane gave him a nudge.

"Hey a girl's talking to you, say hi back~" he chuckled and Vivi nodded.

"H-Hello..." came his shy greeting and Kiako smiled, "I-I'm Vivi..."

Looking up, Kiako glanced at the rat lady and Zidane.

"And you?"

"I'm Zidane, this is Freya." Zidane said and Freya coughed lightly.

"We should hurry..." she said and Kiako looked around, seeing moss and mildew growing on the walls, as well as tree roots and pools of water. If she had to guess, she was in Gizamaluke's Grotto...

"I'm sorry, I won't keep you." Kiako said with an apologetic look. Zidane opened his mouth to say something before Vivi tugged at his glove a bit and said something quietly to the man.

"Ah... Give us a moment will you?" Zidane said with a grin and huddled with Vivi and Freya. As they talked amongst themselves, Kiako looked around some more, seeing a long, serpentine figure in the water, kind of floating beneath the surface. She felt a shiver go through her.

She never imagined Gizamaluke to look so... frightening- Well she did but the pixels on her TV really made it less threatening... Thankfully, she had arrived just as Zidane and company had subdued him, so he was recovering.

The next thing that bothered her, were the bodies. There were bodies of rat people just like Freya in violet and teal armor laying about, and Kiako felt another shiver go through her.

What a wonderful trip this was turning out to be...

A tug on her sleeve jerked her out of her thoughts and she looked down, seeing Vivi.

"U-Um..." he shuffled nervously before looking up at her, "A-Are you headed to Burmecia?"

Kiako tilted her head, "Why do you ask?"

"It's where we're headed, and this place isn't really... Safe at the moment." Freya said and looked to Vivi, "Our friend here asked if you would like to join our party."

"The more the merrier~" Zidane grinned and Kiako smiled down at Vivi, who shyly pulled his hat down.

"Sure...~ If you have any equipment like, something that blocks lightning that be pretty handy..." Kiako said as she began to walk with them towards the last door.

"Are you able to use any healing arts?" Freya asked and Kiako checked inside of her materia pouch, seeing a green one with a leaf engraved on it.

"Yup." She nodded and Freya gave her a look from under her hat and walked ahead. Vivi quickly ran up beside Kiako, and looked up at her occasionally.

"Oh hey, we didn't catch your name." Zidane asked and everyone looked at her.

Kiako looked at them all before answering.

"My name's Kiako Orn-" she paused, "Kiako."

Zidane grinned, "Well, welcome to the party Kiako~ Now let's get outta here before the big guys wakes up!"

-0-0-

As the rain beat down, Kiako looked up at the dreary gate and squinted through the rain. Burmecia was the nation that forever rained, and despite the dreary weather, Kiako didn't mind it.

It was like being in Vancouver.

"N-No!" Freya ran up the slope to the gates, falling to her knees, "It's been five years... I've been away for so long."

"Hmm, five years is a very long time." Kiako said standing over Freya and blocking the rain with her large shade, "Did you miss home in that time?"

Freya nodded solemnly, "Not a night went by when I didn't dream about home. I can't believe I'm here..." she pulled her hat down quietly before standing suddenly. Kiako jumped back a bit to avoid the tall woman from hitting her umbrella, "I am no longer the selfish child I was five years ago. The time has come for me to serve my kingdom as a Burmecian dragon knight once again!"

Zidane grinned and pat his chest, "I'll do what I can to help!"

"Me too!" Vivi piped in then looked up at Kiako, "Will, you help too?"

Kiako blinked down at him before looking to Freya and Zidane. She nodded and gave a nervous smile.

"I'll try my best to." she replied and Zidane nodded.

"Let's go!" As he and Vivi ran in, Kiako was about to follow until she saw Freya linger.

"What can I do for my kingdom...?" she was asking more of herself, until Kiako put a hesitant hand over her shoulder. She wasn't sure if what she could say or do would collapse the world around her like in the movies, but...

It was just so real...

"Right now you just being here is enough for your kingdom." she said and smiled, "I'm sure right now, it's appreciating your presence."

Freya looked to her with her bright green eyes and nodded.

"Let's go."

Kiako nodded and ran in with the dragon knight, glancing behind her every so often.

Just in case someone was following her.

-0-0-

As soon as the party walked in, there was a low rumble and for a moment, Kiako thought it was thunder.

Until a giant lightish red dragon stalked from around the corner and roared at them.

Kiako was going to say pink but... It was more of an actual lightish red. She smiled

"Great, first fight, and it's a dragon..." she mused and pulling out the materia from her pouch. she let two of them sink into her arms, and the last into her leg.

"Crystals?" Freya asked and Kiako shrugged.

"Kinda."

"Here it comes!" Zidane called, pulling out his Exploda and going into his battle stance. Vivi gripped his staff tightly and Freya readied her spear.

Kiako simply stood there trying to remember what the Turks had taught her.

The dragon huffed a cloud of smoke, and reared it's head back, before the steam turned into fire, spraying a gout of flame over the party. Zidane and Freya both jumped out of the way, and Vivi managed to duck, along with Kiako.

Who hid under her umbrella with a "Uaaahhh!"

Vivi stared up at her, the umbrella repelling the flames as she had her eyes squeezed shut.

She MUST have an HP Bar right? RIGHT?! She was looking around frantically for any kind of indication for her to know. The Battle menu, the text boxes ANYTHING...

When the flames subsided and she saw her umbrella was FINE she gapped a bit at it.

"Holy shit!" she stared in amazement and Vivi seemed to gasp a bit.

"You are her..."

Kiako seemed taken aback, "Who?"

"N-Nothing."

When they felt the heat subside Kiako shook off the ashes from her umbrella and Vivi closed his eyes, focusing before jumping in the air, shouting his spell.

The rain around the dragon began to solidify and the Blizzard spell encased the dragon before shattering, leaving what looked like frost burn on it's skin.

"Nice!" Zidane called and after watching Freya use her Jump ability, dashed up to the dragon, spinning the duel blade and slashing through a part of the dragons' neck. It roared at the pain, hissing as lightning crackled around it.

Kiako made a noise before bracing herself and the Thundara spell exploded from the dragon, sending Zidane skidding back, making a noise of pain, Vivi shaking as the lightning coursed through him and Kiako collapsing on the ground.

The pain was so intense she felt like she was going to go blind as she leaned on her closed umbrella for support. Her joints popped and she felt her heart palpitating at the jolt, and Kiako had to make a pathetic noise at the familiar pain.

Had she been struck by lightning before or something...?!

A glint of light was seen as Freya's spear shot down from the sky, piercing the dragon's wing into the stone ground. Landing gracefully and hopping back, retrieving her spear, Freya looked down at the party.

"Zidane, how are you feeling?"

"N-Nothing I can't handle." the thief gave a weak smile.

"Vivi? Kiako?"

"I-I'm ok..." Vivi said as he staggered back to his feet, and everyone looked to Kiako who just gave her a horrfied, panicked look.

Freya seemed to sigh and after concentrating, cast her Reis Wind.

"Zidane and I will try to finish it off quickly, Kiako, please start to heal the others and yourself. You're beginning to look terrible,"

"Yeah... I'll try..." Kiako said and after waiting for the small glimmer of green healing power to stitch her nerves back together, stood up straight and closed her eyes, Rufus' voice in her head.

_"Materia works easily, especially one with such a basic level of enhancement. All you need to do now, is concentrate on exactly what you need them to do."_

A light green glow started on her left hand and placed her hand on her chest.

When a surge of magic went through her she yelped and gasped, feeling a strange sensation of rejuvenation. It felt as if sweet sap from a tree was coating her aches, sinking into them and healing her inside out.

Like... A healing microwave.

Kiako let out a sigh, pulling her still glowing hand off herself and then looking to Vivi, who was trying to guard himself using his staff. Kiako quickly thrust her hand out towards Vivi, the ball of green light hitting the small mage, and splitting off to sink into Zidane's back.

Both seemed to perk at the spell, and the dragon was quickly finished off with a Fire spell, and a slash of the Exploda.

Panting, Kiako kept her umbrella closed, letting the cold rain fall over her. The fight had heated her up, and the cool rain felt incredibly refreshing as she stared at the dragons smoking carcass.

"Is... Is everyone ok?" she asked and everyone nodded. She herself was shaking, clutching her umbrella close, "How'd I do?"

"Could be a bit more offensive, but at least you can heal and defend." Freya said with a small shrug before looking towards a the town square, "... Burmecia..."

"Don't worry, come on! Let's get to the king." Zidane said and began to walk off. Kiako rubbed her body a bit before she began to follow close to Vivi.

"So, what did you mean when you said I was her?" she asked and Vivi jumped a bit before shyly looking down.

"... I had a dream, and you were in it..." he said quietly looking up at her.

"Oh? What was I doing?" Kiako asked curiously. Vivi went quiet again before his eyes went bright.

"You-"

"Watch out!" she heard Zidane yell. A fireball had seemingly appearing in front of them and reflexively, Kiako swung at it with her arm to protect herself, pulling Vivi behind her.

There was a low BONG sound as the fireball ricocheted off her arm with a bright flash and burned out into a nearby wall.

Shaking her arm out, and hissing a bit at the redness forming from a near burn, Kiako thanked Vale and Rufus.

Barrier materia, and heal materia... The men had thought of her safety for sure.

Two matching jesters were above them, one red and one blue, jumping up and down.

"It is them again!" The blue one shouted out.

"Most persistant, they are!" the red one was next, and stared at Kiako, "And a new one, they've brought!"

The two of them looked to eachother, and nodded.

"BLACK MAGES!"

From behind the doors, and behind the corpses of the Burmecians, lumbered out two, large black mages.

Kiako felt Vivi shake behind her, and steeled herself, putting a hand on his shoulder as a natural instinct surfaced. He seemed to jump, and she glanced back at him.

"Vivi, can you do this?" she asked and a startled Vivi nodded.

"Y-Yes. I can do it." he replied and Kiako nodded.

"KILL!" A black mage clapped his hands, and a ball of fire began to form as the second one was channelling a Blizzard spell.

Kiako gripped her sword umbrella and slide down into the stance she had used so long ago. For a moment, when she tilted the umbrella, Vivi thought he saw a glimpse of an actual blade.

As her arm began to heat up from the fire materia in her arm, she swung back to attack-

That's when her phone rang.

-0-0-

"No no I got here fine... Yes... Yes thanks for telling me now after I got attacked with fire ALL MORNING." Kiako said as she paced the square. She wasn't althetic enough to jump the ridges and gaps, mainly, the windows that the jesters, Zorn and Thorne were looking down at them from. Thankfully, the party had finished the black mages off quickly, Kiako had been on healing duty, seeing as at the moment she could only use her umbrella as a shield.

"Well if you had bothered to see what you had asked Mr. Valentine to do to your umbrella, you would KNOW a few things about it!" Horace on the other end replied and Kiako grumbled, "Anyhow... I'm guessing you landed in the same timeline as the main story plot?"

Kiako nodded to herself, "Yeah. So far everything is going according to the timeline but..."

"But?"

"I've just got... This feeling." she said looking around, "I can't explain it, I feel really uneasy..."

"Maybe it's the fact that you even made it in one piece to the place you wanted to." Horace suggested and Kiako sighed.

"I dunno, I'm not entirely sure. I'll let you know if I find anything out." she said and then she thought about it, "Hey Horace."

"Yes?"

"Is my phone everything proof too? You know like my umbrella?"

"Yes because you know we can afford to cast Mighty Guard on ALL of your belongings..." the scientist replied and sighed, "It's at least waterproof, still. Don't throw it into a volcano or anything..."

"Fine... Ah, the others are back. I'll talk to you later." Kiako hung up, slipping the phone back into her bag, "Hey, find anything useful?"

"Some potions and stuffs, nothing too exciting." Zidane said with a shrug then tilted his head to her, "So, who were you talking to?"

"Mmm? Oh nobody important." Kiako replied and let out a sigh, "So, where now?"

"We must see if the king is okay... We should hurry." Freya said, "There could be more of-" Zidane coughed loudly to interrupt her and with a startled shake of her head, Freya ran ahead.

"... Huuuuh..." Vivi sighed, slouching his shoulders a bit and began to follow until Zidane put a hand on his shoulder.

"She's just concerned. It's kind of overwhelming for her right now." he said with a smile and Vivi nodded.

"Yeah... Don't worry about me." He said quietly and Zidane nodded before whispering to Kiako.

"I'm gonna go after Freya to make sure she doesn't run into any trouble... Keep and eye on Vivi ok? And try to keep up you two." he said and Kiako nodded.

"Just make sure to check all the rooms and stuff. I'm pretty sure there might be a spe- Something for you guys to use." she said and with a raised brow, Zidane nodded and jogged ahead.

Damn, she really DID Remember how this game worked...

When he had left, Kiako looked down to Vivi, and smiled, holding out her hand.

"huh...?" Vivi stared at it a moment before hesitantly placing his gloved hand in hers, "... Your hands are really hot..."

"They always are, heh heh~" Kiako chuckled and held her umbrella over the two of them as they walked after Freya and Zidane, watching them converse.

Kiako had to wrack her memory to try and remember the next event that was to happen. There was that pirate lady... Beatrix? Yeah, they had to fight her, and after that they... Did they have to fight...?

"Hey! You guys, over here!" Zidane called and Kiako jumped out of her thoughts before looking down at Vivi, who peered back up at her and gently tugged at her hand.

"Come on, let's hurry...!"

Kiako smiled and nodded, jogging with him to the door as Freya was ringing a bell, which shattered in her hand and the door slid open.

-0-0-

"... Um, I dunno about you but I can't jump that high." Kiako said as she stared up at the giant statue that Zidane and Freya both scaled effortlessly.

"Look, just try to find a way in okay? I'll meet you up top."

"O-Okay." Vivi replied and watched as he leapt up and out of sight over the wall.

Kiako sighed, rubbing the back of her neck and tilted her head.

"Man, how to heck to we get up there?" she wondered out loud and after grabbing hold of the giant ring on the door, and giving it a hard pull, figured it was of course, locked, "Hmmm..."

"Hey... What's this thing?" Kiako looked up from her thoughts and saw Vivi was standing beside a giant machine. It looks like there was a cockpit on two giant robotic legs, one arm was a drill and the other was a claw.

With a raised brow, Kiako made her way towards it before gently running her hand over it.

"This isn't supposed to be here..." She muttered and looked it over. Snapping a quick picture with her phone and closing her umbrella, sticking it back into it's poster tube, she grabbed onto the ledge and after a few unlady like grunts and noises, managed to kick herself up into the cockpit, huffing. As she looked down at the blank screens, she gave one a gentle tap and the symbols lit up with a bright teal glow.

"What? What's up there?" Vivi asked from below and Kiako, feeling a bit embarassed she forget he was there, reached a hand down to hoist him up into the cockpit with her.

It was rather roomy, like it was designed to fit a large chair inside of it.. Taking another picture of the glowing controls, Kiako started to send it to Horace.

"K-Kiako? What are we inside of...?" Vivi asked again and Kiako rubbed her chin.

"If I'm correct, we're in a Fon Machine." she replied and dialed a number on her phone, putting it to her ear to listen to the ring tone, "And it is definately not supposed to be here..."

CLICK!

"Hello?"

"Hey Horace? We have a problem..."

"You just called me what problem could you have run into in the past 20 minutes?!"

"The kind of problem where one of these does not belong." She said quietly, glancing at Vivi with a somewhat reassuring smile, "If any newcomers popped through the gate I'd like to know- Preferably anyone from the Tales of series..."

-0-0-

Vivi looked up at Kiako with worry. It wasn't that she was frightening in any way... It felt strangely, comfortable to be around her, and familiar.

However, at the moment he did not feel safe. With the way Kiako was balancing the phone on her shoulder to her ear as she mashed at the screens before hanging up and letting out a breath.

"Alright... Let's see how this'll go." she said with a sigh and looked to Vivi, "... You know I'd give you the seat belt but, there aren't any... So, just brace yourself okay?"

"W-What are you gonna do?"

"Well... I'm learning to drive... And this TECHNICALLY Is like, a game console so- shouldn't be that hard right?"

Vivi nodded quickly, holding onto the brim of his hat as the dome cover slowly descended like his feeling of safety. The machine lurched forward, running to the door of the castle and with it's drill hand, smashed at the door, carving out the chunks and making cracks. At one point the machines drill whined at the strain and with a spring, launched it's body through the door, across what would've looked like the main hall before it slid to a stop on it's face.

As it made the sound of releasing steam and the dome, which surprisingly from the magic, wasn't cracked, lifted up, Kiako coughed and looked down at Vivi, who had been screaming the whole time.

"Ehh... Uahh..." Vivi gasped, making small noises before Kiako lifted him up under his arms, hopping out of the machine.

"... If anyone asks, Alexandria did it... Agreed?"

"A-Agreed..."


	4. Chapter 4: The Guado

I do not own any of the fandoms or references to pop culture in this fic, nor to I own the characters unless stated.

Vale Valentine belongs to K Entertainment

Dist belongs to Tales of the Abyss

A/N: Yoddles belongs to meeeeeeee. And while I get no reviews, I see some of you readers ARE indeed still reading it, soooo I guess i'll just keep writing lol. Thanks for reading!

This fic also has a Tumblr, in which art work will possibly be drawn for it.

* * *

Sneaking around the statues, her umbrella closed in her hand Kiako moved quietly around the collapsed pillars and rubble with Vivi.

As quickly as she could without being terribly noticed. Peeking out through the statues, Vivi gently touched her and pointed to another set of statues, where a small tail could be seen flicking, and a haze of red.

So, Freya and Zidane were indeed still there, meaning the boss fight hadn't started yet, to Kiako's relief. When Vivi nudged her again, pointing to the people below in the square, Kiako felt herself do a double take.

Those who belonged there were present, Queen Brahne, Beatrix, and the one with the white hair, Kuja.

But the giant, levitating chair, and the man with blue hair and dark blue robes- They were the thing making the picture look strange.

The man was tall, his blue hair in the front arching high over his face in zig zags, and the same, blue veins were along his eyes and arms. The design of the giant chair was enough to give Kiako an idea of who it was...

'He doesn't belong to this game...' she thought quickly, and gently touched her star shard in her side pouch, "What's Dist the Reaper doing here?!'

-0-0-

Kuja looked up to the sky, his eyes closed as he sighed.

"I love this rain, feels like a blessing to our victory~" he said with a chuckle, "Don't you all agree?"

"Mmm, then you would adore the Thunder planes~" The man in blue said with a smile, turning to the man in the chair, "Don't you agree, Dist?"

With an indignant sigh, Dist tried to make use of the umbrella he had installed into his floating command chair.

"I'm not much for the rain, although albeit it's quite pleasant given our situation." he said and grinned, "Seems our plans are coming together."

"Indeed." Kuja said and turned to the men, "Did you get what you came for Seymour?"

The Guado shrugged, his giant sleeves sliding, "I've only managed to trace the connection from that last arrival for a short moment. Seems they didn't send someone who could last long here." he said.

Kuja made a face close to a pout, "A shame. The progress would've moved much faster-"

"This is a great victory for us. Kuja, your black mages made this conquest so simple!" Brahne said, fanning herself as she twirled the parasol above her. When Dist coughed, she gave him a look, "And your equipment of course... My only concern now is finding the king of Burmecia. We must take care of him once and for all."

Seymour smiled, "Patience dear Queen, in the end the King may be of no concern to you~"

"Why do you think that?" Queen Brahne demanded, as Beatrix with her one eye, looked at the two other men suspiciously.

Seymour chuckled, "My dear, the world you have here is so small... Wouldn't you rather rule not only the continents in this world... But, in another~?"

-0-0-

"-iako... Kiako!" The owner of said name jumped a bit when Vivi tugged at her sleeve and she looked down at him.

"Y-Yes?"

"You're shaking... And... Making growling sounds..." the small mage replied and looking down at her hand Kiako saw her fist was clenched so tight around the her umbrella it was beginning to crumple out of shape.

"Sorry, it's... It's nothing..." she replied and sighed, resting a hand over her chest. It was beating so hard that she was having trouble breathing as she rubbed at her chest to calm it down.

Not only did she have flash backs of horrifying hours of boss battles, there were flashes of green- an Ultima spell...? She squeezed her eyes and clenched her jaw, wincing. There was a loud scream and a painful throb in her brain.

"Burmecia will never fall! Prepare to die!" The voice broke Kiako out of her memories and she looked down into the clearing, seeing Freya and Zidane had jumped down as well to stop Beaxtrix and company.

"Uh oh... Vivi let's go!"

"O-Okay...!"

-0-0-

As the soldier took off by Freya's order, Beatrix laughed.

"I've never been so humiliated in my life. I once killed a hundred knights single-handedly... To me, you two-" she paused in her speech to swat a ball of lightning away from herself, turning to see Vivi and Kiako, "Children? Insects indeed..."

"You know Beatrix, casting Stock Break and Climahzard before smacking them is kinda cheating..." Kiako said as she held her umbrella to her side. Beatrix rose a brow before drawing her sword.

"You think you are a match for me? You fools have no chance." she said and charged towards them. Seymour rose a hand before Kuja stopped him.

"No, let's watch what happens~ Besides, it shouldn't take long." he said with a smile before Seymour shrugged, and leaned back to watch.

Freya lept in front spinning her spear in her hand as three white dragons surged behind her. Beatrix staggered a bit as her magic and health were sucked from her but she held strong, slashing up as Freya was recovering from her Lancer.

The metal sparked as Zidane held his Exploda with a leg braced against the flat of the blade, blocking Beatrix's sword as he shielded Freya, getting both of them pushed back.

"Thank you!" Freya called as she and Zidane skid back on their toes on the wet stone.

"No problem baby~" Zidane grinned, "Vivi, HIT HER!"

"Hurry! And don't call me baby..."

Jumping up into the air as the condensed magic released, a blaze of fire engulfed Beatrix and Vivi stumbled back a bit.

"D-Did... Did it work?"

The flames flurried and Alexandria's great knight swept through the fire. She charged towards Vivi before changing her mind, and changing direction to Kiako, was had been waiting to cast Cure for the entire time.

Blinking and gulping a bit a the sudden surprise Kiako threw up a barrier for herself and swung her umbrella up to defend herself.

The Save the Queen sliced through the barrier like it was melted plastic and the blades edge came down.

Kiako stumbled backwards from the force of Beatrix's sword and opening her umbrella up she curled under it like a sheild hearing the THUNK THUNK against the shade. Hexagonal pieces of a Barrier in place chipped off as Beatrix beat at the surface.

"Coward! Fight me and die with honor!"

There was a clashing of metal above as Zidane jumped in

Using her heavy weight Kiako managed to roll up and push her back before Freya joined the fray, Freya attacking from above and Zidane behind behind.

As Beatrix jumped to to make Zidane and Kiako run into eachother, Freya was right up there with her, having bounced off a pillar and tackle the knight in mid air. Zidane had jumped off of Kiako, who had hunched her shoulders and held onto her umbrella tightly to allow him to use her as a kind of stepping stone.

The three clashed in the air and Kiako readied her barrier materia.

"Ready?" she called to Vivi, who nodded in acknowledgement. It was meer beats of eachother, as Kiako cast Wall on the party and Vivi released his spell.

The violent crackling of the Thundara roared through the rain, surrounding Beatrix in the air before she shouted out.

"Enough games, you ignorant fools!" Her body glowed bright with power and she slammed her sword down to the ground. The devastating power of the Stock Break attack rocked the entire party, Freya landing hard on her front and skidding backwards, Zidane being slammed down on his back and Vivi having been blown back and knocked unconscious. Kiako couldn't help but yelp at the sudden draining of her energy. It felt as if a needle had been shoved inside of her before being violently broken off.

Beatrix sheathed her sword, and gently swept her hair over her shoulder.

"Fools."

-0-0-

"That was glorious Beatrix!" Queen Brahne applauded before turning about, "Come, let us go to Cleyra!"

"Yes your Majesty." Beatrix nodded and after glancing back at Kuja and the others, made a noise and followed.

Kuja looked back at Seymour and Dist with a smile.

"See? Wrapped around my finger." he said and Seymour smirked himself, shrugging.

"Humans are indeed fascinating creatures-if that thing is human..." he said before looking to the fallen group, "Well now, what to do with them?"

Seeing Zidane shaking his head out, and Freya attempting to rise from the ground, Kuja stared down at them with condescension.

"The filthy rat is of no issue... But the boy could be a problem..." he said before he jerked a bit to the side at the sudden concentration of magic around them.

Seymour used his arm to swat away the ball of energy that had been aimed towards him and stared down at the burn in his arm and his sleeve. He looked down and saw the girl with the glasses and scarf glaring up at him, wheezing as steam from her Fire spell lifted off her arm.

"How DARE you! You could've hurt somebody!" Dist demanded, floating his chair towards her before Seymour strode over to her and picked the girl up by her throat, lifting her off the ground. She made a noise before wheezing again and staring at him.

Those eyes... Those eyes were almost familiar somehow...

"Aren't you a fighter?" he said with amusement, his blue nails lightly digging into the chubby cheeks of the girl, "Where did you come from? Did Valentine send you too?"

The girl suddenly snarled and bit down on his hand. His cold, dead flesh from the Farplane made her gag and Seymour threw her down into the ground.

As Seymour rose a hand up, a ring of fire forming underneath the girl and Dist flailed and kicked his legs, "W-Wait! We don't know if she-!"

The Flare spell already had set off, blowing the remaining party into a cloud of smoke and debris.

Kuja made a clicking sound with his tongue.

"My, someone has a temper on them." he chided. Seymour's face was stern and almost angry before the smoke cleared, and a tall, towering creature was standing in it.

The rain beat off the swirled horns that were atop the decorated blue helmet as giant, almost extraterrestrial eyes stared out from behind the green visor. A red scarf hung around it's neck and it flexed it's giant hands, holding Freya and Zidane in one hand, and Vivi and Kiako in the other. Moving its hooves a bit, the 8 foot creature stared at the three villains before suddenly bounding away, jumping away and over the walls of Burmecia.

When Seymour readied another spell Kuja again stopped him.

"No." he paused and rubbed his chin as the silver dragon behind him touched down and crouched behind him, "That creature... I've never seen such a thing before."

"Indeed." Seymour said, his temper simmering down before looking to Dist, who shrugged but grinned.

"I have it recorded...~" he said and chuckled, "Ooh, to study such a thing...~"

"My thoughts exactly~" Kuja said, climbing onto his dragon, "Seems your patience has paid off gentlmen, you found a survivor~" Seymour couldn't help but smile as well, floating up in the air with Dist to fly with Kuja and the dragon.

"And so the games begin~"

-0-0-

Another wheeze escaped her throat before Kiako cracked open her eyes, as she tried to take another breath in she ended up coughing and sitting up to let air into her lungs. When something small and fluffy rolled off her stomach, she glanced around her to see she was in a bed. When she looked at the decor of the room, she saw that she was still in Burmecia somewhere, most likely in an abandonned house. Looking around, she saw she was in one of the larger rooms, and saw Freya's red hat from afar through the open door.

The fluffy thing that had rolled off had sat up, and Kiako almost jumped seeing it sit between her knees. It had giant alien eyes, bright blue rimmed with a darker navy. The tones of it's... head were a strange teal and blue, the blue pattern looking almost like a helmet. Two tiny stubby horns were on it's head and it's entire body except it's arms, legs and head was covered in what looked and felt like sheep wool.

Kiako stared down at the little... thing, which stared back up at her and cutely wiggled its tiny little hooved feet and short, nub like arms. What bothered Kiako was it's mouth.

It's was looked like it was in a constant sharp pout that looked like an upside down V. It stared at up her longer before it made a tiny noise, it's upside down V mouth quavering only the slightest.

"Beeeehh."

Kiako giggled at the sound before reaching out to gently rub it's head, which strangely instead of feeling smooth like she expected, had a very fine fur feel to it, like velvet.

"Hey you're awake!" Zidane said as he walked in, Vivi behind him, "We got worried there for a minute."

"Sorry." Kiako said with a weak smile, and the fluffy alien crawled into her lap and curled up, pulling it's arms and legs into it's fluff to make itself into a simple ball of wool.

With an alien for a head.

"... That thing is adorably freaky." Zidane said, staring at the thing while Vivi, who gather courage, came to the side of the bed and peered at it, "What is it?"

"Heck if I know dude." Kiako said with a shrug, and watched the fluff ball roll onto it's back and stare at Vivi upside down. She smiled, "I like it though. So... How did we get here?"

Freya walked into the room, dusting her hat off before she pointed at the fluffball.

"That thing brought us here..." When Kiako rose a brow, she sighed, "I mean, it was a giant, thing... That after it brought us here transformed into that... Thing and then just, fell asleep on you."

"Use your words Freya." Kiako chuckled before petting the fluff ball gently.

This thing saved them...? How did it even get here? She didn't remember a monster like this in the Beastiary...

The alien looked up at her from her lap, it's eyes now big and round.

"Beeeehh!"

She couldn't believe it but it looked like its pout was getting... more pouty.

"So, you gonna name it?" Zidane asked and Kiako tilted her head a bit, giving it some thought.

"... Yoddles."

"Uah?"

Kiako smiled, rubbing it's tummy through the thick wool.

"Yup~ It's name is gonna be Yoddles."

Yoddlers looked up at her with it's eyes before rolling against her.

"Beeeh~"

Yoddles belongs to meeeeeeee. And while I get no reviews, I see some of you readers ARE indeed still reading it, soooo I guess i'll just keep writing lol. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5: Cleyra

I do not own any of the fandoms or references to pop culture in this fic, nor to I own the characters unless stated.

Vale Valentine belongs to K Entertainment

Yoddles belongs to me

* * *

Pulling off her leather jacket, Kiako made a face before shaking it out the inn window, and sand spilled out from the crevices and pockets. When she shook her shirt out as well, just as much sand was flung off.

Sighing, she stared down at Yoddles, who gave her the same pouty look, but was bleating with distaste.

"I'm sorry I shook you out, but you were sandy and I was sandy..." she said and when he still pouted, she smiled weakly, "I promise to never shake sand out of you out the window ever, ok?"

When Yoddles still pouted more insistently, Kiako sighed, picked up the fluff and cradled it in her arms, hugging it close to her. As she rocked it and hummed quietly, soon the bleating became more pleasant sounding and eventually, the little alien fell asleep.

Kiako chuckled and sighed.

Climbing up the trunk was alot of effort... For all of them. Had Yoddles not transformed into the giant handed being it was, she would've been swallowed by a sink hole. Entering Cleyra was difficult as well, seeing is as soon as Vivi was spotted he had been ridiculed right away, many of the solders from Burmercia threatening him and trying to attack.

"K-Kiako...?" Turning from the window, Kiako looked to Vivi and smiled.

"Hey you~ How you feeling?" she asked and Vivi walked in, standing next to her nodding.

"Better." he said before looking up at her, "Kiako... Are you ever afraid?" Kiako blinked at him.

"Of course. I'm actually quite scared all the time haha." she laughed a bit and Vivi seemed to perk up a bit to her before rubbing his hands together.

"... Hey... Kiako?"

"Yes?"

The Black mage shuffled nervously before casting his eyes down.

"You... Don't think I'm like the others... Do you?" he asked, "Since, you're not from around here... What do you think, I am?"

Kiako blinked at him again before going to the Inn bed and resting Yoddles down on a pillow. When she made her way to Vivi, he began to tremble and shake before she kneeled down and opened her arms.

"Come here." she smiled warmly, beckoning him to her. He slowly made his way towards her, and then flailed his arms a bit, screaming when he was suddenly grabbed by her.

"AHHH! Ahh-" Vivi stopped, feeling her arms wrapped around him, holding him close. Slowly, he hugged her back before she pulled away a bit, smiling.

"You're not like them Vivi. You're better than that." she said reassuringly rubbing his back, "Even if you are a black mage, just like them, it doesn't mean you're them, and I know you never will be."

"...R-Really? You think so?" he asked and she nodded, patting the top of his hat.

"I know so, don't sell yourself short." she smiled, "So chin up, okay? You're going to grow up into someone, amazing. I just know it."

Vivi's yellow eyes seem to light up, and fixing his hat, he nodded.

"O-Okay." he said and as Kiako stood up and picked up Yoddles, who Beeh'd a bit at being moved, Vivi spoke up, "T-Thanks."

Looking back to him, she smiled.

"No problem. Now... I could sure use some more potions, I forget to get some while I was shopping... What about you? Wanna come along and make sure I don't get lost?"

Vivi nodded, almost happily until there was a loud shout from below.

"HELP! PLEASE HELP!" Kiako stumbled, and poked her head out the window.

"Yo. Sup?"

"What do you mean "Yo"?! The antlion's maulin' a kid!" The Burmecian soldier shouted. Kiako sighed but then nodded. She forgot about this part of the game entirely... Then again she hadn't played Final Fantasy IX in years. It wasn't like her to forget things...

Then again she was known to be wrong for alot of things.

"Go grab some more people, we'll go first." she called and as the soldier ran off, she looked down to Vivi, "Let's go."

Vivi nodded, this time with a more confident mood and both ran out of the inn down to the sand pits.

-0-0-

"AHHH! GUAAAHH!"

"N-No!" Vivi ran up first, watching in horror as the Antlion was throwing a fit, and the rat boy he had made friends with being flung back and forth, dangling from the Antlion's claw, "P-Puck hold on!"

"You know this kid?" Kiako asked just as Zidane arrived, "Yo."

"Hey. So that's an antlion!" he replied, "Never saw one."

"HELP!"

"Hang in there champ! We're gonna save you!" Zidane called, pulling his weapons out and looking to Kiako, "When did you get here?"

"Just now." Kiako replied and saw Freya jump down to the scene, "Yo-"

"Do NOT YO YO me Kiako." Freya said quickly and sternly, "Is the child alright Zidane?"

Looking at the scene of Puck getting thrown around, he nodded, "Yeah, he's fine."

"LIKE HELL I'M FINE!" Puck yelled, "Hey Slave! Hurry and get me down from here!"

"That voice... Prince Puck?!" Freya stepped forward but quickly jumped back when a claw swept at her, "I can't get close...!"

"Vivi, your magic is ranged, blast the thing." Kiako suggested, "Ow!"

"You might hit the Prince!" Freya snapped and Kiako grumbled, rubbing at the spot where Freya smacked her.

The antlion roared, and rose its claws as Puck dangled haphazardly.

"Aaahh!"

A strange bleat was heard and there was a flash of light as Yoddles charged towards the Antlion, his head bent down as his curved horns collided with the front of the antlions face. The antlion roared, throwing Puck towards the party as Yoddles tried to keep himself from being swallowed in sand, his ridiculously proportioned hands grabbing and swinging from the Antlion's limbs while head butting and punching at it.

As the ant lion reared up, sucking sand through it's mouth, Zidane and Freya quickly split up to cut any of the arms of the limbs being swung at them. Vivi, after checking if Puck was ok, began his spells to attack.

Kiako watched Yoddles swing in front of the ant lion when it tried to use a sandstorm attack, and upper cut it's jaw with his giant fist, making the lion roar and slash at the group.

Somehow for some strange reason, Kiako felt the swelling of pride inside of her. She couldn't help but grin and smile, and in no time at all, the antlion was hissing and sinking back into the sand, battered and bruised.

Freya rushed to Puck, kneeling in front of him.

"Are you alright your Highness?"

Puck fixed his hat over his disheveled hair then grinned.

"Hey Freya, Wassup?" he said.

"But... I heard that Your Highness disappeared upon leaving Burmecia..."

"Uh... Yeah!" Puck looked up to Zidane and Kiako, "Yo."

"Sup." Kiako grinned back before getting tackled over by Yoddles, "... yes I am very proud of you." The giant made a low, clicking bubble sound before making a high pitched whistle that sounded close to a sigh, resting his head on top of Kiako's.

Freya jumped up to her feet, "We must inform His Majesty of this at once! Please Your Highness, he is in the-"

Puck seemed to be ignoring her, scratching at his ear, "My old man huh? Naaah. Just tell him I said Hi okay? Later!"

"But Your Highnes-" before Freya could finish, Puck had began to take off until he stopped, and turned to wave with a smile.

"Take care Vivi!" he called before he hopped down the ladder. Kiako walked up beside Vivi and pat his shoulder.

"Kid could do with some disciplining, but he seems to care about you at least." she said before Vivi jumped up and down eagerly.

"He's the first friend I ever had!" he cried, looking up at her, "I gotta tell him something!"

"Ah- Vivi wait-" Kiako stood there watching the black mage take off and sighed, "Oh kids now a days..."

"Tell me about it." Zidane said from behind her. He jerked his thumb back, "Come on, Freya says we gotta go talk with the king."

As Yoddles shrunk back down into it's wooly form, Kiako picked him up, holding him in her arms.

"I don't have to dress up do I...?"

-0-0-

Standing outside of the Cathedral, Kiako was sitting under a tree on a rock with her phone pressed against her ear. Yoddles was rolling around in the sandy grass, trying to catch any butterflies that came near him. Kiako smiled until she heard the click of the phone being picked up.

"Hello, Valentine Industries."

"Hello, can you connect me to Vale? I've gotta talk to him about something."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Valentine is too busy to speak to childre-"

"Okay seriously Dorothy. If we have to do this again, I swear I'm going to tell Vale, that you're obstructing my work. Plus, you being mean is something I don't like either." The other end was silent, "Just sayin'."

There was another click as her call was transferred and a groggy voice came out the other end.

"Hello...?"

"Morning Vale. Or, at least, for me it's kinda noonish. Actually i would say it's Noon Thirty." Kiako said, "How's it going?"

"Fine! Oh just fine!" Vale suddenly sounded awake, and Kiako rose a brow, "Oh it's good that you phoned, Horace recieved the pictures you had sent us."

"That's good, any idea about the little alien?" she asked, and smiled when she saw Yoddles had wandered towards some of the Burmecian children, and was scurrying away from them when they went to try and pet him.

"He says-" she heard Vale pause to yawn, "He says that it's possible your red materia summoned him."

"My red materia, the summoning materia? But what summon is this then?" Kiako asked. She heard the sound of shuffling sheets before Vale replied.

"Have you looked inside of your sketchbook lately?" he suggested, "Horace hypothesized that because of the nature of your creativity, the red materia could respond to your original ideas instead of the existing summons."

Kiako blinked a bit, and stared down at Yoddles, who by now had gotten a treat from one of the Burmecian children and was happily eating it. Something told her it was a KupoNut.

She imagined that? What the hell was she on to imagine such a thing?

Yoddles looked up at her, and again wiggled its hooves at her watching him.

"Beeeh!"

"Kiako? Are you still there?"

"Ah, yeah. Sorry Vale." she replied and heard more shuffling, "... So, what time is it over there?"

She heard him trying to stifle a yawn before he replied.

"I'd say it's close to 3 in the morning..."

Kiako felt bad, apparently time zones were effective in different worlds as well. Maybe phoning Horace would've been a better idea...

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." she apologized and from Vale's end it sounded like he had dropped the phone and scrambled to pick it up.

"It's no problem! No problem at all!" he said quickly, "I'm, just glad to hear your voice again...Really."

Blinking to herself, she smiled a bit.

"Get some sleep Vale, I'll call again soon." she said and hearing Vale fumble a good bye, hung up and stared down at Yoddles, who had his arms and legs sucked back into his fluff, and was leaning against her foot, "... My voice doesn't sound that good does it?"

At least to her it was ugly, it was loud sometimes, and annoying- and kinda manly sometimes... though she did speak differently over the phone so she was told.

The alien looked up at her and bleated before rubbing his stub horn against her leg affectionately. Giggling, Kiako picked him up and made her way inside of the Cathedral, just as Freya was lining up with the other girls. Picking a spot beside Zidane, she leaned over to him.

"What's going on?" she whispered, watching the harpist go into position, the jewel on top shining brightly.

"They're preforming a dance to strengthen the sand storm." Zidane explained, "Since Freya's going to be part of it as a Dragon Knight they're hoping it'll make it stronger."

Kiako nodded, but rethought the events of the game again.

"Hey Zidane, you upgraded all your weapons and stuff right?" she asked and Zidane with a confused face nodded.

"Yeah of course, why?"

"Oh, just checking, I didn't want to be the only one..." Which was a lie since she hadn't done ANY OF THAT. She forgot...

As the music played, and the dance began, Kiako felt Yoddles shivering in her arms and looked down at him.

"What wrong sweetie...?" she whispered and watched his eyes slowly turn into small slits, staring through the sand storm. He began to wriggle and Kiako tightened her hold on him, "Yoddles not now- HNGK..."

Doubling over from being kicked in the gut from his hooves, Kiako watched Yoddles scurry around the outside of the room on his tiny feet behind the dancers and jumped onto the ledge that overlooked the sandstorm. He still squinted through the sand and looked down.

The song and dance finished, and as the harp strings snapped, Yoddles was hopping up and down, bleating to Kiako, who had crawled up to her feet and made her way to him.

"You know, you didn't have to kick me..." she muttered and when he bleated again and squinted down, Kiako too looked over. As the sandstorm was dissolving, there was a bright light of magic from below the trunk and Yoddles bleated again, jumping up and down and trying to point with his little stubby fingers.

"Hey what's that thing want? It's sure making alot of noise." Zidane said joining her.

Kiako looked to Zidane.

"I don't really know why... He's getting all worked up over something." she said, picking the alien up and while she pet his head, his eyes began to widen back to normal though he kept looking up at Kiako expectantly.

"Let us hope no one tries to invade up the trunk." The King of Burmecia said as everyone around murmured and whispered to another, some preparing for any threats.

Kiako stared down and let out a breath.

She knew what was coming, and she didn't really like the thought of it...


	6. Chapter 6: The Twins

I do not own any of the fandoms or references to pop culture in this fic, nor to I own the characters unless stated.  
Vale Valentine belongs to K Entertainment  
Yoddles belongs to me

* * *

Checking over her equipment in the shopping square, Kiako looked over the Mage's hat she had purchased. Surprisingly, the ability to learn abilities was open to her, and during their travel since Gizamaluke's grotto, Kiako had learnt many of the abilities that Zidane and company were capable of utilizing.

The only materia she really had to keep on her was the red materia, which she had gotten crafted into a pendant, though she did keep the other materia on hand in a pouch. She winced a bit, and rubbed at the Mythril vest she had also gotten. She was hiding it under her shirt, it so far was comfortable except when she bent the wrong way and some of her, extra smoosh got pinched.

Speaking of which, Kiako was rather pleased that she had to buy a belt for her jeans! Although her jeans were now losing some of the shape that filled them out, she was still pleased.

Kiako had even bought Yoddles something to wear, and he was happily shaking his head around to watch the bandana around his neck flutter.

He however, now had difficulties sleeping...

"You seem like you're faring well." Kiako looked up to see who was speaking to her, but seeing only a red pom pom, had to look down and see who was really talking to her.

It was a moogle, with stripy attire and a back pack. Kiako recognized the Moogle as Stiltzkin, whom they had run into in Burmecia days before.  
"Very much so, thank you." Kiako said politely before shifting over to make room on the bench. Stiltzkin hopped up and Yoddles went to curiously stare at the creature that was the same size as he, "How are your travels so far Stiltzkin?"

"Exciting! So much is happening lately, it's getting hard to keep track of it all." the moogle said but looked pleased, "At least someone bought some of my items, I can keep going now."

"That's good~" she smiled and lightly kicked her back pack, "Yeah, this things getting pretty full... I always wonder how the others can travel with their weapons so well."

"Kupo! You can get it enchanted you know that?" Stiltzkin said swinging his feet, "The item shop can do it for you." Kiako made note to go do so before they left and she sighed.

"I hope you'll move on from here Stiltzkin, it really isn't safe..." she said and the moogle nodded.

"I know Kupo, I was leaving now actually." he said and smiled a bit, "You should be leaving soon too actually. Don't you have an assignment somewhere to do?"

"Soon, but the star shard isn't wor-" she paused, and looked down to the moogle, who smirked with a knowing look, "How did you..."

"In all my travels I've only met a few of your kind." he said with a nod, "Pleasant people some of you are, although albeit a bit socially awkward."

"Others like me... Oh, they're probably the ones Vale had sent." Kiako thought outloud and looked to Stiltzkin, "Do you know where some of them are?"

Stiltzkin shook his head with a "Kupo."

"No, you see... You're here telling us here to be careful and to get to safety and such."

"Where in the end, I think it's your kind that need to be careful." a mans voice said suddenly beside Kiako, who jumped straight off the bench with a squeal. Yoddles was up off the floor like a guard dog and growled deep in his throat with narrowed eyes. The man was in a dapper attire, beige suit jacket, green tie, red hair and blue eyes.

"Especially with those strange men floating around." a woman's voice followed after, wearing the same attire as the man- It was like they were a gender bend of one another... Same red hair, same blue eyes, a pair of twins.

A very out of place pair of twins.

"Strange?"

"Yes strange, though they aren't strangers."

"Nor friends."

"More like-."

"Enemies?"

"Ah yes, enemies both old-"

"And enemies anew."

"Enemies new, or renewed." a correction from the woman, "though those enemies could be friends-"

"And those friends could be enemies."

Kiako looked between the twins finishing each others sentences, "Who ARE You two? How did you even get here, are you working with Valentine?"

"Valentine..." the twins both frowned at the name and looked to each other, "She still currently works with him."

"Mm, yes she does..."

"We're too early."

"Or too late."

"No we are certainly too early."

"Or too late."

"Are you going to contradict me during this entire ordeal?"

"Whoa wait wait wait!" Kiako ran after them, trailing away and Yoddles galloped after her, "Who ARE You two? You don't belong here!"

"And neither do you." the woman said, turning with her brother, "None of you belong here."

"And yet here we are." the man added in, "Living."

"Dying."

"Having lived."

"And having died."

Kiako stared at them, her mouth opening and closing, "Wait are you saying the people Vale sent here are...dead?!"

"Hey!" Kiako turned away when Zidane called her and turned back to see that the two red heads were gone as quick as they had appeared, "Freya wants to go check out why the sandstorm stopped, you coming?" he asked and after a thought, Kiako shook her head.

"No, I have a feeling I should stay here." she replied and held up her bag, "I wanna get this thing enchanted first too."

Zidane frowned a bit before shrugging, "Well, alright. You better hold the fort here then yeah?"

Kiako nodded and grinned, "Don't worry, I have Yoddles here if anything goes crazy." The said alien was rolling around the ground, chasing it's bandana. Zidane laughed before nodding.

"Alright then, we'll be back soon alright?" he waved and took off the go look for Vivi. Kiako sighed, and pulled out the Star Shard from her pocket. Giving it a shake, she sighed.

"Well, I guess we'll see where you take me next huh?"

It pulsed once with energy and died back again before Kiako tucked it into her pocket and headed to the item shop.  
She had to prepare after all, for Cleyra's fall.

-0-0-

When the first mage teleported in, Kiako nearly had a heart attack, her reflex kicking in. She slapped the mage aside with her umbrella before setting it on fire with a Fira that she had acquired from the Mage hat. Yoddles had warped into his giant form, and was weaving through the mages to get to the soldiers, whom he meerly picked up and slammed them into eachother, or threw aside into buildings.

Many of the Burmecians were scattering around, trying to find shelter from the mages teleporting to every imaginable path.

"EEEKK!"

"H-Help us!"

The Maiden's nearby screamed as black mages closed in on them.

"KILL! KILL!"

Yoddles jumped down between them, knocking them back with his giant fist, and gently picking up the two girls.

"Yoddles!" the giant glanced to Kiako, "Take them down the tree! They have to get out of the tree!"

Yoddles nodded and was getting ready to jump before Kiako suddenly stopped him and changed her mind.

"Beeh?" he stared at her. His momma had a strange expression, that looked both frustrated and sad, conflicted even.

"Take them up to the cathedral. It's where it'll be the safest." she said and when the knocked over black mages cast a spell on her, lightning being absorbed into her body from the Coral Ring, she barked at him louder, "GO!"

Yoddles nodded and started to jump over the roofs of the buildings, dodging any fireballs and sudden ice formations aimed at him. As he set the maiden's down, one of them grabbed onto the back of his long scarf.

"Please help bring everyone here! We love it here, please help us!" she pleaded. Yoddles nodded and took off down to help gather more of the citizens.

He wasn't worried. He knew Momma was strong.

"Dan watch out!"

The Burmecian soldier Dan only had time to turn before being consumed in a block of ice that shattered as the second mage cast Fire on it. Kiako swore and shook her umbrella violently.

"God DAMMIT!" she cried and as a Alexandrian knight tried to attack her she screamed in anger, punching the soldier off the ledge of the tree, "I can only save so many people without changing anything too much, but this is getting hopeless!"

"Kiako!" looking back, Kiako saw Vivi, ZIdane and Freya running towards them with a small family and some more Maidens.

"Guys..." She jogged to them and sighed, "Is this all the survivors you found?" Zidane nodded and the mother of the family came up to her.  
"Have you seen my husband?! D-Dan.. My Husband Dan!"

Kiako curled her hand into a fist, "I-I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." She clenched her jaw and felt her eyes burn, hearing the mother and children cry.

"We gotta make our last stand at the Cathedral, it's the only way!" Zidane said as Yoddles drop down beside them.

"I thought so too, Yoddles take the girls and the kids, we'll be right up." Kiako said before Yoddles nodded, and obeyed, "Let's hurry. She'll be here soon."

"She...? She who?" Freya asked as they ran up the stairs.

"Beatrix, and Brahne." Kiako replied and whispered to herself, "And Odin..."

-0-0-

After rushing into the Cathedral, Freya ran to the another man inside, and Kiako tilted her head.

"Hm, that must be Sir Fratley..." she said quietly as Yoddles shifted beside her. He had to crouch slightly to even be able to be in the building, but none the less felt it was safer to be in this form at the moment. Kiako looked up at him and smiled, "Good job out there, you sure aren't what I expected."

Yoddles eyes narrowed a bit, but not in a negative way.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot remember you for the life of me..." the man, Sir Fratley said and Freya was shaking.

"Y-You jest! You cannot have forgotten me!" she cried, "It's me, Freya! Freya of Burmecia!" Her voice was almost cracking, and Kiako had to close her eyes and cover one of her ears to try and tune out the sadness.

"I am sorry..." Sir Fratley replied quietly, watching Freya drop down to her knees. As Zidane became angry and began to yell, the King of Burmecia interrupted, as did Prince Puck. Kiako was staring at the doorway, fingers combing through the wool that was still over Yoddles arms, waiting.

When Sir Fratley disappeared, Kiako slowly made her way to Freya, Vivi and ZIdane, where Freya was still on her knees.

"What irony. To find the man about whom I have dreamt of endlessly... Only to discover that he cannot remember who I am!" Freya wiped her eyes and stood, pulling her hat down over her eyes, "Come Zidane! The enemy's hand has not been stilled, we must regroup!"

"Freya..." Zidane looked sadly at the knight and Kiako reached out to put her hand on her shoulder before someone behind them screamed.

"Have mercy!" The High Priest begged, backing up as Beatrix walked in, her sword pointing to him. The knight looked at the people in the room with her one eye, scoffing.

"Pathetic rodents! You fail to grasp the true power of this jewel!" she said and as she rose her blade to cut the stone loose, Yoddles giant hand grabbed her arm. She seemed shocked for a moment before going, "Hmph!" and releasing a blast of red energy from her body.

Yoddles was thrown back and bounced across the floor before shrinking back down into it's fluffy state. When Kiako managed to slide down beside him and cradle him, he was trembling and making quiet, whimpering squeaky sounds.

"Shh shh shh! It's ok..." Kiako said quietly before glaring to Beatrix, who caught the stone in her hand, "You bitch...!"

"Hmpf, I have been called worse. Now that I have this jewel, I am through with your city!" she announced.

"Wait!"

"Halt, Villain!"

Beatrix turned to run through the lobby before the dark matter in her hand pulsed.

_"You... Summoner."_

The voice echoed, and was faint, but upon hearing the deep voice Kiako perked up, blinking. Why was she hearing a voice... Who was it? She looked at the Dark matter and watched it pulse.

It was like a beating drum in her head... When she had those headaches-

She put a hand to her head again, wincing.

"Odin...?"

_"You know, of my destructive powers... Do you not?"_

"Odin...!" Kiako scrambled to her feet, Yoddles held tight against her chest as she grabbed for her umbrella, "Odin wait!"

"What...?" Beatrix paused at the doorway at the outburst. Kiako kept walking towards her, staring at the Dark Matter in her hands, "It's no use! This jewel now belongs to-"

Beatrix's voice was drowned out by Odins'.

_"I will destroy this place... You know the nature of my new master."_

"No NO Odin please don't do it! The people here are innocent. ODIN PLEASE DON'T!" Kiako felt her vision blurring, she was crying, clutching Yoddles.

_"You know that I cannot allow that... You know why this history must not change."_

Beatrix quickly dodged Freya's thrown spear and took off through the door.

_"Farewell."_

"Odi- Odin!" Kiako watched Zidane and company run out after Beatrix, and she stared down at her little creation in her arms. As the sounds of battle began outside, she turned to the people inside of the cathedral, "Everyone has to leave. I don't know how you will be able to, but you all must leave the tree NOW."

"But, what about Puck?" The King asked as Kiako pulled off her plaid scarf and wrapped it around Yoddles securely.

"Puck is fine, he's with Sir Fratley." she said, "You all need to try to escape. That's all the advice I can offer you."

"What will you be doing?" The King asked, "Do you plan on escaping as well?"

Kiako walked briskly to the door before shaking her head and glancing back at them.

"I don't do plans." she said and as she walked out towards the battle ahead, she glanced down at Yoddles before nuzzling her head against his, "I'm so sorry..."

Yoddles blue eyes gently cracked open before he bleated, and a light began to surround him, tendrils reaching out and wrapped around her fingers and arms.

-0-0-

"I shall leave with the jewel now." Beatrix said, sheathing her sword. Zidane sat up, gripping his side groaning.

"She's t-too powerful...!" he winced. Beatrix turned before looking down at them.

"Now that I think of it... Maybe leaving you alive is a rather unwise idea." she said and her handle gripped her blade, "I will not be called a fool by fools." When she walked towards the party to draw her blade, something giant and white shot out from the cathedral and Beatrix swiftly drew her blade to deflect it. Instead of it being an actual projectile, the white object rammed her over instead, sending her flying through the air and flipping gracefully to regain her balance.

"What the...?" Zidane looked up at what came out of the cathedral and jumped, "Whoa!"

The white blob took form and looked like Yoddles. The white was glowing, almost blinding, despite what looked like black flames outlining and enveloping it's body. The flames manipulated into shapes, both smooth and sharp from all angles, and a bright red scarf flickered behind it.

The being looked back to the party and a voice could be heard in their heads.

_"I'm sorry it took me so long to get out here... I lost my mind for a moment in there."_

Vivi stared up at it.

"Kiako..." he sad quietly before forcing himself to stand up. Zidane and Freya followed suit, before Beatrix made a noise.

"Black Mages our work here is done. Commence withdrawal immediately!" she ordered and Kiako, in her form of TRANCE lept at her, swing her giant hands towards her. Beatrix blocked with her blade, feeling the fist close to her skin and gasped a bit, pushing off and gripping her arm. What looked like a burn had formed from the licking black flames, and Beatrix quickly disregarded it.

The flames burned cold, as ice cold as any Blizzaga spell she had felt. Trance!Kiako swung her giant arms again, this time clapping them to make a sound wave to knock back Beatrix, who jumped up and away to dodge before something grabbed her ankle.

The end of the red scarf had snagged her, and was pulling her towards the being until she chopped it off with her sword, and jumped into a glowing teleport sphere.

Trance! Kiako watched it fly away before turning to Zidane and company. The light faded, and when it dissipated, Kiako fell harshly to her knees, gasping and huffing, Yoddles held tight in her arms.

Vivi ran up to her and gently held her shoulders.

"Kiako are you okay?" he asked with worry in his small voice and Kiako looked up at him nodding. Vivi made a sound of relief before looking down at the blue glow, "Ah, your pouch!"

Kiako blinked and reached into her pouch, pulling out the Star Shard, which had began again to pulse and glow with more intensity than before.

"... No...! This is too soon, I can't leave yet...!" she said with panic before seeing Zidane debating helping her, or going after the mages, "Go! Get going!"

"But-"

"I SAID GO!" she screamed and with a hesitant look, Zidane jumped into a sphere.

"Vivi, this may be your last chance to find the trust about who you are... Come! Show us your courage!" Freya called before jumping into a sphere as well, "Kiako, please take care!"

"You too!" Kiako called as the sphere zoomed away. She looked to Vivi, and gripped his shoulder tightly, "Vivi, listen to me. We might never meet again, and if we do, neither of us might not be the same. If strange- Well, stranger things began to happen in this world, don't be alarmed."  
"What? No I don't understan-"

"No listen. When that happens, I need you to be strong, and to fight as hard as you can." Kiako said sternly, the Star Shard was glowing brighter in her hand.

"Wait don't leave me! I don't want to be by myself!" Vivi cried and Kiako rubbed his arm.

"You're never alone Vivi! Ok?" she said quickly and smiled, "Our names are the same, we share a name!"

"Our... Names?"

Kiako began to float in the air and she gently pushed Vivi away to the sphere.

"My name is Kiako Ornitier, and I will always come back." she said, "So go!"

The blue light was blinding by now, and Kiako felt her body get jerked to the side and up to the sky.

As she ascended, she caught a glimpse of Odin and his horse Sleipner, throwing his mighty lance down into the tree town below. The lance shredded through the trunk, and Kiako clutched onto Yoddles tightly, squeezing her eyes shut and blocking out the screams and destruction.

Cleyra was gone.

* * *

**AN: KAY SO IN ORDER FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER TO MAKE EVEN A LICK OF SENSE (Not like you were able to make sense of it in the first place) But I need to replay the next game cause I do not even remotely remember how it goes 8C**


	7. Chapter 7: Nexus

I do not own any of the fandoms or references to pop culture in this fic, nor to I own the characters unless stated.

Vale Valentine belongs to K Entertainment

Kelvis belongs to K Entertainment

Yoddles belongs to me

* * *

Landing hard on the ground Kiako gasped, her body jerking. She wheezed at being winded and her head smacking into the floor, her arm rolling off her and laying at her side.

Shouts of surprise and screams were heard around her, though she was convinced it was still the people of Cleyra-

Cleyra... She could've saved them all couldn't she? How badly would it have effected the game if she saved the people? The place would be destroyed but the people, at least the people would be-

"B-Beeh..."

The weak bleat made her try and sit up, but her body strained at her not to move. Grunting she tried harder before flopping back down, squeezing her eyes shut at her throbbing headache, questions pouring in.

Where was she? Was she still in Gaia? Did she travel somewhere else? Was she and Yoddles even SAFE?

A hand touched her face and the feeling of the healing microwave began to sink over her and she tried to sit up again before a hand stopped her.

"Hey hey chill, this'll take a minute..."

Murmuring it wasn't until she felt a heavy weight rest on top of her chest did she open her eyes and blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling. Or- wait... No wait...

The blanket on her rustled a little and she found herself face to face with Yoddles, his eyes big and he looked healthy as he tilted his head to the side.

"Beeeeh!" he bleated and a tiny purple tongue darted out to lick her nose. Kiako giggled a little and pet Yoddles over the head, "Oh thank god you're okay..."

"And it looks like you're gonna be fine too." Looking to the door she would have sat up had Yoddles not planted himself ontop of her. There at the doorway was a man with brown skin, SWAT grade tactical gear and a pair of goggles over his black hair. The two handles sticking out from his back were something Kiako recognized right away from No More Heroes.

She stared at him with an expression that showed the little gerbils in her brain were going in overdrive. Where did he see his face before? Where had she heard his voice before...?

"Beeh!" Yoddles bleated over and over again and the man put a finger in his ear, wincing.

"Ok ok! Just quiet down...!" the man shout whispered and digging in his pockets he handed Yoddles a peanut, as to which the little alien snatched it and when he couldn't crack it open with his tiny fingers he held it back up to the man as if to say SHELL IT FOR ME HUMAN.

"O-Oh god. You don't have to feed him those." Kiako got up slowly, and Yoddles hopped off onto the side of the bed as the man sat down and shelled the peanut, feeding him.

"Nah it's cool, he totally likes them." The man grinned a bit and leaned back, "I gotta say Kia, you asians seriously never get older, what are you 18 or something by now?"

"Ah 21 actually." Kiako quickly corrected and rubbed her chest, seeing her armor and belongings were beside her on a chair, "... Where am I?"

"In the infirmiary."

Kia was close to replying with "No Shit" and stopped herself, feeling confused. Why would she even think of saying that to a stranger?

"Which one?"

The man frowned, but then snapped his fingers, "Ooooh that's right! You never made it to FF VIII Did you?"

"If you're asking if I ever finished it then no I have not-" She stopped and then looked to the man, "Oh my gosh." at this point the gerbils were wanting to stop for a break in their spinning wheel, their tiny little legs starting to set in from exhaustion.

"Yeah I know I can't believe you didn't finish such a good game."

"NO Oh my gosh how do you even- What..." she stared at him and the man looked concerned as Kiako stuttered and tried to sort through her thoughts outloud, "But- but if we're there, and you're here.. and I'm here buh-but-but..." At this point those poor gerbils had tripped and were spinning around and around in the hamster wheel that had been spinning with the increased thought process.

"Kia are you okay?! Are you having a stroke or something?!"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?!" Kiako blurted out and the man looked taken aback, "How do you know about Final fantasy!?"

"Kia you don't remember me?"

"...Did, Valentine send you?" Kiako asked.

"Whoa since when did you call Vale by his last name? Though honestly it could be his first name for all we know... he'd be like, Valentine Von Valentine the III'd... Valentine." The man nodded and reaching out he gently put his hands on either side of her head. As soon as he touched her Kiako squeezed her eyes shut and felt her head begin to pound.

There were flashes of this man in her mind, spikey black hair, a long black jacket, the use of poles and spears and gadgets... A boy who had watched over, fought and laughed with, grieved and got frightened with...

The memories stopped when Kiako made a painful whine and the man pulled his hands away, letting her put her head into her hands until she looked back up at him.

"... You're, KELVIS... right?"

The man grinned wide and happily as her memories of the fellow otherworlder flooded into her mind, all the battles, all the adventures, everything all those years ago.

"Finally! I was wondering if I'd have to start wearing a nametag." Kel laughed a little and rubbed Kia's back when she looked down in disbelief and horror.

"Oh my god... I almost forgot you..."

"No actually you actually did forget me, and while I am DEEPLY WOUNDED." Kel pulled her in tight for a tight bro hug, "It's great to see you again, good thing you don't age otherwise I probably wouldn't have recognized you without your old Nekomata form. That and you- Dropped from the sky."

Kiako just made a Unnnngggg sound at that memory as well and squeezed back, sighing and relaxing against the once boy turned man.

"Hey Kel?"

"Yeah?"

"... You got chubby."

"SERIOUSLY? Nearly 6 years and THAT'S The first thing you say to me?" Kel pulled away with a comical look of horror. Kiako ended up mimicing his face.

"It's okay, I did too! We can be chubby together!" she said and they stared at eachother, "We could be chubby buddies."

Kel broke out into snickers and snorts, "Chubby Buddies... I think I can handle that."

"So... Seriously though where am I Kel?" she looked around, "If we're in Final Fantasy VIII..."

"Oh yeah, here come on." Kel helped Kia to her feet, making sure she was stable before he lead her out of the infirmiary and out into the main part of the building they were in.

People in uniforms ran and walked past, speaking about exams and classes here and there and Kiako had to blink and turn around to see where they were.

"Whoa..."

"This is Balamb Garden, and I gotta tell you it's one hell of a place." Kel grinned, watching the asian spin slowly to take in the entire Garden, Yoddles twirling in place with her.

She quickly looked to him.

"Kelvis you have ALOT of explaining to do."

-0-0-

In the cafeteria Kiako was devouring a sandwich, and Kel was watching with a smirk on his face. At one point she stopped, looking at him and with ladylike grace wiped some mayo off from the corner of her mouth and sucked it off, looking a bit embarrassed.

"So, I feel from the sky...?" she asked and Kel nodded.

"Yup, everyone thought it was a small meteorite or something so I checked it out and LO AND BEHOLD! It was you!" he made the gesture of waving his hands at her as if to say TA DAH, "Though I recall you usually traveled by fireplace."

"Ahh ha... yeah well the fireplace in my apartment is way too small for me to squeeze through..." Kiako chuckled until Yoddles bleating insistently and she shelled more peanuts for him.

"So, you imagined him huh?" Kel asked, watching Yoddles sitting on the table top, munching on peanuts that Kiako had shelled for him.

"Yup~ He's like my little baby~" she gushed, watching him eat. Kel chuckled.

"You didn't make it with Vale did you?"

"NO!" Kiako blushed and pet Yoddles over the head, who took the time to eat a peanut that Kel was feeding him, "Anyways... Where have you BEEN Dude? I was starting to worry. It's been like..."

"Six years, definitely." Kel nodded and grinned, "You still look the same, I swear you asians never age."

"YOU Look so different!" she was referring to his goatee and hair. She reached out and gently rubbed her thumb against the scar over his forehead, frowning, "Did that hurt...?"

Kel shrugged, "Hell yes... But the ladies sure like it for some reason. Makes me look dangerous." he chuckled and leaned back, "So, my turn. How'd you get here?"

"I used a Star Shard Vale gave me. What about you? How did YOU even get here?" Kiako asked and Kel shrugged.

"Vale gave me a call about some business." he said and folded his hands together, "Though I still visit home frequently."

Kiako nodded as she listened and then glanced down. How much time had passed? Was her mom and sister doing okay...? She hadn't even had a call in-

She deadpanned and Kel waved a hand in front of her face, "Helloooo? Kia you in there?"

"I HAVE A CELL PHONE!" she said in sudden remembrance, causing a few to stop and stare at them.

"Whooooaa shh shhh...!" Kel took hold of her arms and helped her sit back down, "Calm down, it's okay. Everyone here has a cell phone."

"I know but they have cell phones I have a CELL Phone." Kiako used a clawed hand to emphasize it and Kel just tried to keep a straight face, "Here here!" She fumbled with the phone and pushed it over to him.

Twirling it in his hand he started to flick through the screen before he made a face. The pictures had landed on the Fon machine back in Burmecia and he kind of chewed his lip a little.

"Thaaat doesn't belong there..." he said slowly and then looked to Kiako who nodded, "Wait, that means your first world was Final Fantasy IX?"

"Yeah, it was-" she stopped, and sighed, slumping over the table, "Not what I expected..."

"What do you mean? Didn't the time line follow?" Kelvis asked and Kiako nodded.

"Of course it did, but..." she sighed, "There was a problem there."

Kel frowned and leaned in.

"What do you mean...? What kinda problem?"

Kiako looked down to Yoddles and cradled her forehead in her hand.

"The Seymour and Dist kind..." she replied and Kel blinked.

"You're shittin' me."

Kiako shook her head, "No I'm absolutely serious. I saw them with Kuja, and alot of the people Vale had been sending were getting killed." she shook her head, "My biggest concern is that if they followed me, well... Hell might break lose."

"Ahhh don't worry. I'm sure they're busy watching Kuja try and conquer Gaia still." Kel said with a grin, "And besides, we chased him off once, we can do it again."

Kiako smiled a bit before laying her chin on Yoddles, who had fallen asleep on the table.

"I sure hope so... I'm not as good of a fighter as I used to be." she said before looking down sadly, "Cleyra..."

"Hm?"

Kiako had buried her face into Yoddles and had an arm draped over her head and Kel had to lean in to listen.

"I watched Odin destroy it... I tried to convince him not to but I couldn't..." she was saying, "I couldn't save so many of them, I feel terrible..."

Kel blinked down at her before smiling and gently grabbed both side of her face, lifting it up for her to look at him. When her teary streaked eyes were on him, he grinned widely before ruffling her hair on both sides.

"Graaahh!" he growled playfully, messing her hair up while she flailed and cried out her stereotypical 'Aie yaaaa!'.

"You worry too much, right now just focus on what you can do for this world." Kel chuckled and Kiako pouted, fixing her hair before smiling and rubbing her face clean.

"Yeah... I'll keep that in mind."

Looking at his watch he got up and gave Kiako a nudge, "How you feeling kid? Body all good?"

"For the most part, why?" She got up to shuffle behind Kel, making a noise when Yoddles jumped and climbed up her back to hang off her shoulder.

Kel grinned, "Gotta see if you can still rock the battle field! It's training day."

Kiako stopped in mid stride and stared after him before scurrying after him, "I'm not gonna have to run up and down stairs am I?!" When Kel didn't reply but just chuckled she scurried faster, "KEL? NO STAIRS YOU HEAR ME? I DON'T LIKE STAIRS!"

* * *

**A/N: 8I FINAL FANTASY VIII IS HARDER THAN I REMEMBER...**


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